Man, 19, surrenders to police in teen’s murder

A murder suspect surrendered to Philadelphia police yesterday afternoon in connection with the Nov. 28 shooting death of a 14-year-old boy on a Lower Mayfair street.

Authorities did not initially release the identity of the suspected killer because formal criminal charges were pending. A police department spokeswoman said that homicide detectives took the 19-year-old into custody at Eighth and Race streets at about 12:30 p.m.

Investigators have said they believe robbery was the motive for the slaying, which occurred at about 9 p.m. on the 6200 block of Brous Ave. Patrol cops from the 15th district were called to the scene in response to a “person with a gun.” They found the victim, Ian Wilsey, lying in the street with three gunshot wounds of the chest and torso. The shooter had fled.

Police rushed Wilsey to Aria-Jefferson Health’s Torresdale campus, where he died at about 9:30 p.m.

Wilsey lived on the 1700 block of Cottman Ave., about a block from Northeast High School, where he attended ninth grade. Police have said that he was walking with another teen at the time of the shooting. The other boy, 16, was not injured. He initially told investigators that he and Wilsey were walking to a store. Philly.com reported that the boy later told detectives that the teens had handed some marijuana to a friend just before a car occupied by two unknown men pulled up to them. One of the motorists pulled a gun and opened fire on Wilsey. The assailants took nothing from either boy.

Police have released no information about a second potential suspect.

A family friend set up a GoFundMe page on Nov. 29 to raise money for the victim’s funeral expenses. Donors had pledged about $12,800 in the first week online. ••